Ninja Girl Adventures
(Ninja Girl Adventures Series, #1)
By MG Wilson and Phil Elmore
Sister Power at It’s Best
Moira Mackenzie is just 14 years old. Her sister Mindy is 15, and their younger sister Marci is 9. The girls have lived their lives until now believing their father, Scottish billionaire Stephen Mackenzie, is simply a businessman whose KogaTech Consolidated (KTC) is the world’s most successful technology company. Their father was married to a Japanese woman, Kameko, whom the girls are told died in a car accident.
The girls’ idyllic existence in New York, where KTC headquarters is located, is shattered when their father disappears. He is legally declared dead by their Uncle Jiro Akiyama, Kameko’s brother. Uncle Jiro wants to possess the company for himself. What he doesn’t know is that Stephen Mackenzie changed his will so that Moira inherits the entire corporation.
An overwhelmed Moira must contend with the unraveling of her family. She has the help of Morton Gerardi, Stephen Mackenzie’s best friend, but he’s not the girls’ father and there’s only so much he can do. While Mindy rebels and Marci, a child genius, disappears deeper into her computer, Moira is further frightened by an intruder who invades the girl’s Manhattan apartment. Not long after this, Moira is visited by Uncle Jiro himself, who offers to provide for the girls financially as long as Moira signs the company over to him.
Moira considers giving in but doesn’t. Suddenly, out of nowhere, black-clad figures, who can only be the mythical ancient ninja of feudal Japan, attack the Mackenzie sisters. The girls are saved by an elderly Asian woman who heads a ninja clan of her own. That woman removes her face mask to reveal that she is Aiko Akiyama, the girls’ grandmother. Moira immediately has many questions. Why has Aiko only now revealed herself?
Aiko explains that Kameko, as Aiko before her, was a member of a Koga ninja clan of Kunoichi — a female ninja. Aiko was forced to fake her own death because of Jiro’s ambitions. She vows to teach Moira to become a ninja warrior and fulfill her family destiny. As Moira beings to learn the ways of the ninja, Aiko’s Yoda-like lessons give her greater self-confidence as well as physical martial arts skills. She passes these lessons to her sisters… but there’s more. Legends claim the ninja were shape-changing tengu, forest spirits with magical powers. Aiko reveals that these stories are true. If Moira wishes, she can learn these mystical abilities. Jiro himself can become a wolf and other ferocious beasts. Moira can learn these same skills, just as Aiko has.
As Moira trains and learns more about herself, she helps her sisters to grow more confident and more disciplined as well. Soon, Mindy is using her gymnastics skills to have ninja-style adventures of her own, as genius Marci helps both of her sisters using her knowledge of computers.
As they grow in their abilities, the girls uncover a plot by Uncle Jiro to misuse “sleep learning” technology developed by KTC. This is why Jiro wants the company. He believes the technology can be used to control minds, ultimately giving him control over the city — and perhaps, one day, even more than that. As the girls use their new abilities to chase down clues that point them to Jiro’s sinister ambitions, Jiro grows tired of holding back. He instructs his ninja to kidnap Mindy and Marci. He then tells Moira she has no choice but to sign KTC over to him if she ever wants to see her sisters again.
To get her sisters back, Moira will have to face her greatest fears. With only partial training, she must conquer her own doubts and apply the lessons of empowerment and confidence that Aiko has given her. The story climaxes in a battle between the two rival ninja clans wherein Moira must first save her sisters and then defeat Jiro himself. The fate of New York City hangs in the balance, as does the fate of Moira’s family and of her father’s company.
Genres: Thriller, Young Adult
MY THOUGHTS
When your father is the owner of the world’s most successful technology company, and you live in a New York penthouse apartment, life may appear to be perfect. However, Moira’s father, Stephen, has disappeared – his plane was lost as he flew overseas. Having lost their mother six years previous, Moira and her sisters were now orphans, dependant on Morton Gerardi, their late father’s best friend. When their mother’s brother, Uncle Jiro, shows up to inherit Stephen’s business, he arrives to find changes to Stephen’s will, which will mean Jiro is in for a nasty surprise…
With hidden agendas, the battle over the ownership of a company and ninja training, Ninja Girl Adventures is a fabulously fast-paced book. The action of the ninja training was glorious to read about and makes one want to learn the ancient ways of the ninja and join in the fight against Uncle Jiro. With hidden files and harmless people committing crimes, only to forget ever having done them, there is a mystery afoot and, as it would be foolish to get the police involved in a ninja war, it falls to Morton to solve it.
Moira is a wonderful protagonist and a powerful and clever young woman. She steps into the shoes of both her mother and father, looking after her sisters and trying to keep her father’s business out of Uncle Jiro’s hands. While it was a little unrealistic that she would act as a parent to her older sister, or more so that her older sister would allow her to act as such, Moira takes on the role beautifully. Whereas Morton, Uncle Mort to the girls, can make sure they are looked after, he is ill-prepared to look after the children that have been thrust into his care. He also looks to Moira, for she knows her sisters better than anyone. She had expected to go to college, work alongside her father and maybe even take over the business one day. Ninja training was not a part of her life plan, nor was getting caught up in a war between two rival ninja clans. However, she embraces this unexpected change and, with her sisters’ help, focuses her determination on stopping Uncle Jiro.
Moira’s sisters, Mindy and Marci, both have their own strengths, meaning that when the three sisters work together, there is very little they cannot achieve. Mindy is struggling at school, as she is being bullied and more often than not, she loses her temper, and she is the one who gets in trouble. Marci, while excelling at school, is too smart for her advanced classes. Instead of getting in trouble at school, like Mindy, she is getting in trouble with the police, as although she is only nine years old, she can hack into practically anything. Not that she uses it to do wrong, but Enterprise Games has spent too much money trying to increase their security to stop this mystery hacker breaking into their system to play their games for free! With Marci’s intelligence, Mindy’s gymnastic skills and Moira’s ninja training, the three are practically unstoppable.
The two men that the sisters refer to as ‘Uncle’ are quite possibly the most opposite people ever to exist. Uncle Mort may not be the best at dealing with the situations associated with looking after children, but he does his best, and the girls love him. He is kind, loyal to Stephen and the girls, and deserves the title, despite having no blood relation to Moira and her sisters. Uncle Jiro, however, is the opposite. He is cruel, manipulative, and everything he does is in his own best interest. If he is capable of love, he does not show it, and his actions towards the girls are despicable.
With twists, turns, a massive plot twist and nine ninja rules that can apply to everyday life, this is a novel that not only tells a story, but addresses issues such as bullying and how love conquers evil. In a world where there is conflict behind every corner, even when you are a ninja, fighting is always a last resort. This book was delightful to read and, while it is a Young Adult book, that should not put anyone off reading it, for it is exciting and the has been expertly weaved into a story of good versus evil, love versus hate, ninja versus ninja.
Melissa G Wilson
Hello! I’m Melissa G Wilson and my top passions are writing, helping new authors who want to make a difference through their writing, and mentoring women and at-risk youth to become authors.
My company Networlding Publishing, focuses on assisting thought leaders to write, publish, and launch “books that make the world better.”I’ve been growing my company for the last ten years and have helped 120 thought leaders write, publish, and launch their “make-a-difference” books.
I’ve consistently used proceeds from my authors’ book sales to help mentor new adults to help them learn this “new world of publishing.” So far, I’ve mentored more than 30 new adults through an organization called Dream Careers and I can’t wait to help more young people get better starts in their lives. My mentees have gone on to create stellar careers in publishing, marketing, and social media.
I’ve had the honor and pleasure of writing five best-sellers, one that held a #10 on Amazon for year and also had a book on Oprah that turned into an opportunity to travel the country and hold community leadership events with kids, adults, and city leaders. One other major honor was getting to be one of 70 people who helped Seth Godin, one of the best marketing leaders in the world, reinvent publishing through his initiative called “The Domino Street Team.” My goal now is to keep helping new author thought leaders get their important books out to the world and into the hearts of others, especially youth, who can use the insights from these books to make the world better for all.
Phil Elmore
Phil Elmore is a bestselling author, freelance journalist, and technical writer who lives and works in Upstate New York. He has contributed extensively to “Tactical Knives” and “Survivor’s Edge” magazines as well as several other self-defense and “tactical gear” trade publications. He is the Senior Editor of League Entertainment (an IP development company based in Florida) and the owner of Samurai Press, an independent small-press publisher. Through Samurai Press, Elmore has published a variety of non-fiction and self-help works, including the self-help bestseller “Ten Things Doctors Won’t Tell You About Your CPAP Machine.”
As a ghostwriter, Phil Elmore has been the author behind countless non-fiction and fiction works, including multiple action and science fiction novels, martial arts and fitness publications, survival and “prepper” ebook and print products, and even a survival-themed series of novellas. He has edited numerous novels, magazine articles, and other copy for inclusion in commercially published vehicles, as well as generating hundreds of thousands of words of content for Internet marketers across the Web.
With League Entertainment, Elmore co-created the Duke Manfist parody action series. The publisher of “The Martialist,” the online magazine “for those who fight unfairly,” Phil Elmore is also the author of twenty-one Executioner, Mack Bolan, and Stony Man novels for Gold Eagle/Harlequin Enterprises. His other work includes the “Augment,” “Monsters,” and “Detective Moxley” series, as well as the short story collection “The Thing in the Office and Other Tales of Terror” and the crowdfunded comedy-action novel “Spaceking Superpolice.”
Thanks for hosting today! This sounds like a fun, exciting read!
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